Memory devices are used to store information in digital form in computers and in many other types of devices in use today. Conventional memory devices may be classed as being volatile or nonvolatile. In a volatile memory device, logic state information can be stored only as long as electrical power is supplied to the volatile memory device, and is erased once the electrical power is turned off. In a nonvolatile memory device, the logic state information can be retained for months or years after the electrical power has been turned off.
The present invention is of a microelectromechanical memory apparatus that allows logic state information to be sequentially entered therein, and subsequently read out in the same sequence in which the information was entered into the device. Thus, the microelectromechanical memory apparatus of the present invention can be referred to as a first-in-first-out (FIFO) memory, or as a micromechanical memory, or simply as a mechanical memory. The mechanical memory of the present invention in different embodiments can be formed as a volatile memory or as a nonvolatile memory.